Sunnyvale, California — Continuing to bolster up original programming, Yahoo Inc. on Wednesday signed a deal with media-buying giant WPP’s GroupM Entertainment studio to create branded content for the Web portal’s key properties including news, sports, finance and entertainment.
Yahoo’s agreement with GroupM should yield more original content designed specifically for advertisers, such as celebrity mom blog Spotlight to Nightlight, hosted by Ali Landry (right), shown interviewing Mayim Bialik.
Under the deal, Yahoo and GroupM Entertainment will take part with advertisers to develop a range of creative concepts that represents media content with an advertiser’s messaging for each program, which will be displayed on Yahoo media properties like News, Sports, Finance and Entertainment.
The alliance would pave way for original sponsored programs similar to those already continuing on Yahoo such as Tech Ticker, with Scottrade as exclusive advertiser, and Sports Minute, developed for Dunkin’ Donuts.
Other original Yahoo programs include gossip show “The 411 on omg,” sponsored by Starburst; “This Week In Music,” launched last month and sponsored by Target; and “Daytime in No Time,” the spinoff of Yahoo’s popular “Primetime in No Time,” offering a video recap of the previous evening’s TV shows. JCPenney and Verizon are the respective advertisers for the two programs.
“Marketers need big, ground-breaking ideas that engage and delight consumers, and this partnership with Yahoo! will enable them to create unique high value relationships,” said GroupM Entertainment Worldwide CEO Peter Tortorici, who will administer the partnership for GroupM.
One of Yahoo’s main focus this year is to develop its Media group, which is designated to receive the windfalls induced by Yahoo’s current plan to exit businesses it no longer considers to be at its core. The group already does a ton of traffic, but executives want to augment the amount of originally produced content on the site in hopes of luring advertisers with deep pockets.
“Yahoo has a keen understanding of what makes our audience click, and this partnership will help advertisers develop deeper connections with our users,” said Joanne Bradford, Yahoo’s senior vice president, North American revenue and market development. “Furthermore, Yahoo can continue to build on its successful portfolio of the Internet’s most-watched original programming by tapping into GroupM’s incredible creative development talent.”
An early implementation of this strategy resulted in the development of a blog about celebrity moms called “Spotlight to Nightlight” hosted by Ali Landry and sponsored by State Farm, after Yahoo noticed a surge in searches for content related to celebrity parents.
Margaret Clerkin, GroupM’s director of digital assets, will assist Tortorici in overseeing the company’s involvement, and Erika Nardini, Yahoo’s vice president of packaging, will be the representative from Yahoo.
Concepts that are being well thought out by GroupM and Yahoo include “Rock ‘n Roll Jet Plane,” a reality show billed as a “real-life ‘Almost Famous,’” and “50 Jobs,” a show patterned after The Discovery Channel’s “Dirty Jobs” that follows unemployed job seekers. The shows could also include the types of scripted longer-form show that Yahoo is developing, if there is a match between concept and advertiser.